Poster by PCSP Communications Team

Going Circular in Portugal Cove-St. Philip’s

Zero Waste As a Path Toward Circularity

Where: Portugal Cove – St. Philips (PCSP), NL

Date: September 2021 – April 2022

Project participants: PCSP, College of the North Atlantic Office of Research and Innovation, Municipalities of Newfoundland and Labrador, PCSP Chamber of Commerce and the Advisory Committee on the Environment.

Project sponsors: Planeet Consulting and the College of the North Atlantic.

Key Features:

Assessment of existing and potential zero-waste initiatives (Repair, Reuse, Refill, Recycling, Return, and Rot/composting) that help prevent and reduce waste, connect people and move PCSP towards circularity.
Data collection through a survey, interviews, and a waste audit of the Town Hall.
Description of motivations, barriers, and the challenges and opportunities for scaling zero-waste initiatives up.
Analysis of how the Town Hall can be a collaborator, convener, and catalyst for circularity in the community and the province.

Deliverables:

A report describing a road map towards circularity outlining:

What are we learning:

Zero-waste initiatives happen at varying levels within the Town Hall and the community. Composting and recycling are the best known and where the town has already invested a lot of resources.
The main barriers to zero waste are accessibility, inconveniences (too far, too little, too much work), and a lack of knowledge or understanding of waste reduction (e.g. composting, recycling).
To overcome these barriers and move toward circularity, PCSP has an opportunity to build upon existing programming, socio-cultural values, and community spaces.
A critical “low-hanging-fruit” project is community composting, given the resources already invested, the interest of residents, its significant impact on climate action, and the potential to start small, learn together, and grow!

Who to contact for more information:

Viviana at viviana@planeet.consulting

Where to learn more: